Sweep Me Off My Feet

She frowned and began shaking her head. She parted her lips to say something, but he was faster than she was, almost as if he was reading her mind.

“I was jittery last night and maybe you were too… and maybe it was too much too soon. Please, Angela, give me a second chance. If this doesn’t work, then I will back off,” he pleaded and looked into her eyes. “Please,” he said after a long second of silence.

“Okay,” she said after thinking about it for a second. “We can try this again.”

She smiled when she saw Michael breathing a sigh of relief. It was like agreeing to his date had lifted this huge load off his shoulders.

*****

Candy was only too excited to fill in as a stylist for Angela and Brandon’s babysitter for the second night in a row. Angela would have been comfortable in jeans and a shirt, but Candy was adamant.

“The man took you to a five-star restaurant on your first date. There is no way a man who pays three hundred dollars for a steak on his first date takes you anywhere that you would need jeans and sneakers,” Candy had said as she helped Angela into a mustard yellow knee-length dress and a pair of maroon heels. It was not a look she would usually go for, but again, she made anything look good. Candy had held her hair back in a low messy bun. When Angela looked at her reflection before she left the house, she could not help but feel like pure sophistication. She made the likes of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle look like distant wannabes.

“I want to know everything,” Candy had said excitedly before Angela left.

*****

Michael had planned on doing everything differently on the make-up date. He had spent the day looking for a good place where they could enjoy the food and still have a conversation and every time he looked up a restaurant, he could not help but feel like there was no restaurant out there that fit his need. Apart from good food, he also wanted a quiet place. A place where they could dine in peace without some aspiring designer or model ambushing them looking for their next big break. Or even worse, someone accusing him of being a confederate. He needed to make a good impression and after great deliberation, he found just the place.

He had asked the head chef at Villa D’Este to do the one thing he never did: give a cooking class. Of course, that was going to cost him, asking a Michelin star chef to give a class but, he was Michael O’Brien. Affording Umberto Locatelli was the least of his problems. He knew he had made the right choice when he saw Angela smiling as she kneaded the bread they would later dig into, he knew he had made the right choice on the date. He could even tell that she was comfortable even though the date was in his penthouse. Everything about that evening was perfection.

“I really hope you like what Chef Umberto made,” he said when Umberto placed their food in front of them.

“Are you kidding me?” Angela asked. “It looks great and smells divine.”

Umberto smiled at them before he walked away leaving them to their herb grilled steak and fresh Italian bread with a side of vegetables and herb dipping sauce. The dinner was as Italian as it got and it looked perfect.

“I have to say, I never thought I would have food prepared by the famous Chef Umberto let alone learn from him,” she said, smiling at Michael.

“Well, I never thought there was a day I would have heavenly bread made by the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he said as he reached for a piece of the sliced bread.

“You are a pretty smooth operator, aren’t you?” she asked as she looked at him dip the bread in the sauce. He held it up for her and she frowned. “I wouldn’t.”

“Come on, it’s just us here,” he said, smiling at her. She leaned forward and let him feed her the sauce soaked bread.

“Oh my God…” she muttered as she closed her eyes.

“1 know, right? You cannot buy that at any store.”

“Definitely not,” she said as she took a bite of her steak which was just as perfect. “I must admit, I did not think that this was going to be better than the other night especially when you told me that the date would be at your place.”

“Yeah, with everything that was happening, I didn’t think of any place where we could actually have some private time and considering the private dining didn’t work so well last time, I didn’t want to take the risk.”

She took a bite of her food and looked up at him.

“Well, you will be pleased to know that so far, you have all the points.”

Michael smiled and pretended to tip his imaginary hat. He got up and walked to the counter before he came back with a bottle of red wine.

“More wine?” he asked.

“Yes, please. I don’t know what wine that is, but it is amazing,” she said as he refilled her glass.

“It is a forty-year-old Merlot from Africa,” he said, filling his own glass. “It was a gift from a friend I made during the South African fashion week some time back.”

“Forty-year-old wine?” Angela looked at her glass. “Suddenly, I feel so unworthy.”

Michael laughed.

“If anything, this wine should be the one looking to be worthy of your mouth.” He looked up at Angela and saw her frowning. “That sounded a whole lot better in my head.”

She giggled.

“That’s okay. I know what you meant.” She took another sip before she took another bite of her food. “So, talk to me about you. Who is Michael O’Brien?”

He shrugged.

“There is not much to tell. I am just your everyday designer, but today is about you. Talk to me about Angela Carter.”

Angela shook her head.

“This would be a much longer conversation if we talked about you, but hey, I am a just your everyday store manager.”

“What do you do when you are not making sure people are not taking longer breaks?” he asked, smiling.

“I would probably be spending time with my son,” she said, looking right at him, maybe to see how he would react.

“Your son, huh? How old is he?” he asked, still looking at her.

“Four. Little guy with energy fit for ten grown men.”

His grin grew wider.

“Maybe one of these days I can meet him and share some of that energy?” he asked.

Angela felt a surge of warmth go through her body.

“I would love that.”

Needless to say, Michael was having a great time and judging by how relaxed Angela looked, he could tell that she was having a good time. After dinner, Michael looked at her as he waited for Umberto to serve their dessert: cinnamon sugar churro waffles topped up with vanilla ice cream and strawberry slices.